Islamic State group calls on Muslims to immigrate to Afghanistan

But the group would struggle to persuade fighters to travel as far as Afghanistan, said Emily Winterbotham, a senior research fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. "It's trying to keep IS-K viable and the IS-K brand going, but the reality is Afghanistan is still a long way away from Syria and Iraq -- it's not an easy journey," she said.